Star Wars Gen Con 06 - The Galaxy Draft - Part 1
by Ron Longhi III

I wanted to start by saying sorry this taken so long but things have been very busy for me. I have been working hard to trying to plan a large weekend of events in Chicago for Star Wars TCG, CCG, and Minis. That being said the here is part one of the Star Wars at Gen Con 06 Galaxy Draft.

In the months leading up to Gen Con I knew that I wanted to have some kind of tournament. Since I have all these new tools at my disposal I began by building new decks with FOTR! It was on a Sunday at pastimes when DARTH_TED and I were playing SWTCG that he suggested a draft. I was like sweet, "I already have a bunch of ROTS packs let's do it." He then suggested that we instead do a ten pack draft and I immediately thought he was crazy. But then he said, "Let's use ten packs one pack from each set ever printed." I thought this was an awesome idea so of course I was game and immediately started spreading the word.

We decided to play on Friday night because it was going to be the only day he wasn't working at the convention. Big thanks to DARTH_TED because he was the one who bought all the packs we needed. Sadly, we had one little snag in buying the packs. BOY wasn't available anywhere (there is a typo in my original RB thread because I started typing it before Gen Con and forgot to change it). One retailer at Gen Con had a box for sale at $85.00, which was ridiculous since every other set they were selling was $30.00 or less. Originally we wanted ten packs so we could end up drafting 110 cards to pool from. That way you shouldn't have a problem constructing a 60 card deck using the standard deck building rules. Since we had one less pack and only 99 cards we decided to modify the deck building rules a bit. Here are the rules that we set for the tournament before we started drafting.

- Each player would play at least 8 units in each arena
- Each player may play dark and light side units
- Each player will build a minimum 50 card deck
- No limit on the number of one type of card that can be played (I.E. 7 x high speed dodge)
- Banned and restricted cards are no longer banned or restricted in a draft.
- Rounds of Swiss play
- We will draft packs in order of set release from left to right alternating after each pack.
- Each player will pick one card for each pack then pass the rest of pack until no cards are remaining.

Here is a list of the players who attended in order of how they were seated at the table.

Seat 1. Sithlord2
Seat 2. Longshanks
Seat 3. vswader
Seat 4. Darth Harrison
Seat 5. Geoff
Seat 6. TheDJChewie
Seat 7. Sorth
Seat 8. Darth Ted

I drafted in this event and the only way I can give you a detailed look is to take you through my draft process. Before we get into what I picked, my strategy for this was simple. I knew I wanted to get good fast units in ground and space and what I didn't want was characters that easily contested. My plan was to stay away from Obi-wan, Vader, Anakin and other characters who have a copy of themselves in every set. As we open our first pack AOTC, I had Jake on my right and vswader on my left. Immediately, I thought to my self, I really don't want any characters from this set being it was the first set and they are all sub-par and mostly contestable. I want to say that I know I don't remember all my picks and in what order I drafted them, there was just too many packs to remember. I do remember my first pick from AOTC though. It was Tyranus's Solar Sailer, because it's fast and very hard to kill in draft. My second pick was Hero's Dodge and my third and fourth pick were both Speeder Bike Squadron. I like the shields but more importantly the 60 speed. Here is a list of the rest of my AOTC picks again I don't remember the order in which I picked them.

Naboo Starfighter Squadron
Captain Tyhpo (A) (last pick hehe)
Padawan's Deflection
Kit Fisto (A)
High Force Dodge
Commerce Guild Droid 81
Wat Tambor (A) (I tore up because in draft he's garbage)

Next we opened Sith Rising and I opened Aurra Sing and was pretty pleased. Geoff actually opened Mace Windu (A) and sarcastically was like, "is this any good?" I know my second pick was Jedi Hero's but after that I have no clue here are the rest of my picks in no order.
Jedi Starfighter Scout
Techno Union Warship
Clever Escape
Retreat Underground
Aggressive Negotiations
Maul's Strategy ( I was hoping to get a common maul or two)
Acclamator-Class Assualt Ship
Republic LAAT/I Gunship
Clone Trooper 6/298

ANH was next and it was a disappointment basically because it's the worst set. I opened Vader's Tie Fighter (B) it was the best card so I took it. Everything else I took was garbage and didn't make it into my deck.

Jedi Intervention
Learning the Force
Nowhere to Run
Vader's Interference
Imperial Detention Block
Moisture Farm ( lol I remember now this was my second pick)
Planetary Defense Turret
Obi-Wan Kenobi
Rescue
Obi-Wan's Plan

Since we didn't have BOY we went right to JG and I opened Aurra Sing (B). It's not a great card but I already had Aurra Sing (A) and my pack really was bad. My next two picks were Republic Attack Gunship because they are fast and cheap with good stats.My fourth pick was Executioner cart because I thought it would help in character. At this point in the draft my character arena stunk pretty bad. Normally I wouldn't care but we had to play at least 8 characters in this draft. Here are the rest of my picks…

Shaak
Tyranus's Geonosis Speeder
Anakin Skywalker (I)
Guidance of the Chancellor
Coup de Grace
Synchronized Systems
Padme Amidala (F)

Empire was the pack I wanted to open the most IMHO it has all the best stuff. I opened my pack and there was some really good stuff. The rare was Dark Cave which is garbage but what really interested me was Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser. I knew that every space unit I had was a Starfighter so I knew this was a good first pick. Second, I picked another Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser and thought I couldn't have a better start. Third, I picked Carbon Freezing Chamber mainly because I wanted it I only have two. That aside the card is solid and tough to deal with in a draft environment. My fourth pick was another location Meditation Chamber simply because it was the best card. Next, I took Blizzard Force AT-ST so I could search for my newly picked locations. The rest of my picks looked like this…

Rebel Trench Defenders
Probe the Galaxy
Force Throw
Emergency Repairs
Lando's Repairs x 2

After ESB I took a look at my card pool and decided I have some great space and ground units now I should focus a bit more on characters. Like I said earlier my plan was to get decent fast characters that won't be contested. When I opened my R & S pack there was a Falcon's Needs foil and Kyle Katarn (A). I wanted both cards but more importantly I didn't want Falcon's Needs played on me so I took it and passed the pack. Next when I went through the pack I noticed another Falcon's Needs, I took it and didn't look at the rest of the pack. Falcon's Needs is too powerful especially with multiples and that is why it's on the restricted list. With my third pick I got my Kyle Katarn (A), with my fourth I got Luke's X-Wing (D), and my fifth pick was Boba Fett (E). Here are the rest of my picks…

Boba Fett (C)
Holoprojection chamber
Mos Eisley
Luke's Vow
Stormtrooper Detachment
Muftak

Opening TPM I knew I wanted a Blockade real badly (I had a hand in breaking the card so there is some sentimental value there) but unless I opened one I didn't think I would get one. I opened my pack sifted through it and no Blockade but there was a Modified YV-330. Definitely worth a first pick so I took it passed the pack and then looked at the next cards passed to me. As I sifted through them again no blockade but I saw the rare Aurra Sing (B) (the letter is a misprint she really is (C) version). Since I had two versions of her and there was nothing amazing I took her. Third pick I took Darth Sidious (D) and then something awesome happened. I got passed a BLOCKADE with my fourth pick and my fifth pick! Sixth I took Podracing Course and after that I don't remember the order of cards I picked.

Anakin Skywalker (J)
Sneak Attack
Rune Haako (A)
Watto (B)
Qui-Gon Jinn (C)

I took some time to look at my cards before we opened ROTJ mainly because
some players messed up drafting picks. As I went through my cards I wasn't happy with my characters and decided that I need some work in that arena. So I thought that maybe I would focus on getting a large Darth Sidious stack. I opened ROTJ and my first pick was High Speed Dodge and it fits perfect in my deck. As I said earlier my focus was going to be fast units in all arenas especially space and ground. My second pick was Tie Interceptor, my third another High Speed Dodge, and my fourth was Skiff. The Skiff was a great pick up because it helps my characters and is a fast cheap unit in ground. ROTJ was simply my best pack that I drafted. I played ten of the cards I drafted mainly because my last three picks were insane! Now I am not sure what happened if no one liked this card but my last three picks were Surprising Strength. This card works in all arenas and is works well with all the small fast units I was drafting. This is what was left from my picks.

Darth Vader (O) (didn't make it in my deck)
Emperor Palpatine (C)
Force Lightning
Lightsabre Throw

Finally the Last pack, ROTS, and probably the one everyone was looking forward too! I knew pretty much what everyone was going to try and get. So Instead I decided to try and draft equipment and versions of Darth Sidious. My plan worked and I first picked Sith Lightsabre but had to pass Patrol Mode Vulture Droid, which was a gamble to be honest. Second I got Anakin's Starfighter and third another Sith Lightsabre. Here are the rest of my picks in the order I remember getting them.

Jedi Lightsabre
Darth Sidious (F)
Darth Sidious (E)
Darth Sidious (F)
Padme Amidala (H)
Aarc-170 Starfighter
Aarc-170 Starfighter
Confusion

After looking through my pool cards and a couple tough cuts I finally made my deck. Here is my 50 card deck with at least 8 units in each arena…

Character -11
Aurra Sing (A)
Aurra Sing (B)
Aurra Sing (C)
Emperor Palpatine (C)
Darth Sidious (D)
Darth Sidious (E)
Darth Sidious (F)
Kyle Katarn (A)
Qui-Gon Jinn (C)
Watto (B)
Rune Haako (A)

Ground -10
Skiff
Blizzard Force AT-ST
Rebel Trench Defenders
Tyranus's Geonosis Speeder (B)
Republic Attack Gunship x 2
Executioner Cart
Jedi Heroes
Speeder Bike Squadron x 2

Space -10
Anakin's Starfighter (A)
Tie Interceptor
Modified YV-330
Luke's X-Wing (D)
Dreadnaught Heavy Cruiser x 2
Vader's Tie Fighter (B)
Jedi Starfighter Scout
Techno Union Warship
Tyranus's Solar Sailer (A)

Battle -9
Surprising Strength x 3
Lightsabre Throw
Force Lightning
High-Speed Dodge x 2
Hero's Dodge
Padawan's Deflection

Mission -4
Blockade (TPM) x 2
Falcon's Needs x 2

Location -3
Podracing Course
Carbon-Freezing Chamber
Meditation Chamber

Equipment -3
Jedi Lightsabre
Sith Lightsabre x 2

My first round opponent was the son of vswader Darth Harrison (last name I cant remember). I played Dark Side at 28 build both games. I won the first game we played very decisively with my large Aurra Sing Stack. I had Aurra Sing in play double stacked with all three of my Lightsabre attached to her, ouch! In ground I had a couple fast units in play and Podracing course was in the arena. The only unit I had in space was Tyranus's Solar Sailer, which I attacked with and retreated every turn. I side boarded in my two Boba Fetts' for game two because his ground or space wasn't going to be me. So I thought I could use the extra characters and boy I was right. The second game was really close and in fact I only won because of blockade. I had Boba (E) in play and stacked when he hidden cost in his Boba Fett (H) to stay alive. He won the contesting of the two units and I retreated. Next turn I contested his Boba out of the arena but he had a hidden cost Jabba (C). The following turn I played blockade and killed his Jabba so I won the game.

My second round was against Jake and really nothing special happened I played Dark Side at 28 build both games. Jake is a new player and played very well but just didn't have the fire power in space or ground to compete.

My third round was against TheDJChewie who had more bomb Rares than anyone not to mention the Death Star II! We each played one game as dark and one as light. We had a great match and luckily he never pulled the death star out on me or I would have had trouble. In game two I was Dark Side and won Character right away with a Sidious stack but he played Falcon's Needs on my Sidious. Luckily I had the Sidious (F) version underneath if I needed to sacrifice my unit. Ground was a battle he had some great units like Planetary Ion Cannon. The card single handedly prevented me from playing space units the whole game until the very end. I eventually won the match in game 2 by playing Podracing course on him just before lockdown.

All In all, the tournament was blast and we decided to do another limited event on Saturday. Now at first we were going to do another draft but it took so long to draft the packs we decided to do a sealed. I don't have really much to report about the sealed deck because I quit after the first round. We had 9 players and I had been on about 10 hours of sleep total for 3 straight days. Everyone could see how tired I was so since we had an odd number of players I bowed out and went to bed. I was so tired in fact that someone pointed out to my bad rolls were because my diced were tired too! I do know that DARTH_TED opened a ridiculous pool of cards like an ANH Krayt Dragon. I just want to wrap this up by saying thank you to everyone who played. I had a great time and look forward to any future SWTCG events we may have. Maybe next year at Gen Con or at Celebration 4 we can get some good events going!

Thoughts or comments? Visit the message board thread for this article here.

About the Author
Ron Longhi, a.k.a. Longshanks, started playing TCG from the beginning and joined the Rebelbasers community in December of 2002. He lives in Chicago, IL and continues to play TCG and now SW Miniatures.

He considers himself lucky because he has made many great friends through the TCG and Reblebasers. "It is because of these relationships that Chicago still has a good group of players involved in TCG." He's played in all of the TCG championships held at Gen Con, except for the first one. He over slept. He feels that his best year playing the TCG was in 2005 because he won at the Celebration 3 qualifier and placed in the top 8 at the last TCG Championship. "I would like to think in some way I had something to do with Blockade (TPM) being restricted after C3."

But, he's still keeping the game strong. "Since the collapse of Wizards involvement in our game, I am doing by best here in Chicago to keep it alive. Anything to give back to this game and community what it gave to me. . . a lot of fun!"